Various cumbersome arrangements have been proposed in the past for preventing children from harm in the event they insert foreign objects into electrical receptacles. Other prior art addresses access control to utilities and communications receptacles. However, to date, there have not been any devices that will control the access for other phone or network receptacles conveniently.
There are numerous uses for the herein disclosed electric, phone or network control system and method. One preferred use would be for controlling the sale and duration of user access to publicly available receptacles and communication terminals. In this scenario a company or facility visited by the public such as an airport, hotel, motel or RV park would sell or provide the identification RFID tags to customers, thereby allowing them to access the utility or communications from the RFID cooperating receptacles that may be accessible to the general public. The receptacles would be accessible to anyone. However, they are configured to only provide power or data to those who have purchased the correct transponder tags to activate the respective receptacle being tapped.
Another example of a preferred embodiment of the device is the provision of unique properties for child-proofing a home or hotel room or other living space. This would be accomplished by only having the receptacles equipped with RFID controllers in the living space which are enabled to be active if the correct transponder on an RFID tag is attached to a plug being inserted into the receptacle. Having the receptacles default to the un-energized condition, absent the presence of the proper RFID tag, prevents current from flowing into foreign objects inadvertently or intentionally inserted into electrical receptacles in the house by small children. Additionally, this device will eliminate the cumbersome and sometimes ineffective plastic safety plugs, cover plates and protective boxes conventionally employed to prevent children from placing objects into the receptacles within the home.
The disclosed device may also be used to enforce compliance and access security in an office environment by allowing authorized employees to communicate with electrical, telephone or computer equipment by having the proper RFID tag equipped plugs for insertion into specific mating receptacles equipped with RFID Controller units having the proper matching transponder code. One example of this embodiment would be employed with office telephones which use the same plugs as standard Ethernet network plugs to prevent damage to sensitive telephone and electrical equipment. Plugging the telephone into a data port or vice versa may cause damage to the telephone or network. Tagging the inserted plugs to match and communicate with only the correct receptacles will ensure compliance and avoid inadvertent damage to office equipment.
In yet another preferred embodiment of the device which can be optionally employed with all of the various configurations of the device, a timer may be operationally inserted into the RFID controller unit so that a single identification tag is valid for a specified time period after the plug is first inserted into the receptacle. In this fashion the plug would allow current or data to flow for a specified interval before the tag's identification becomes invalid turning off the switch. The tag identification code then could be reset to be valid again for another specified interval. The receptacle could be enabled to respond to one or a plurality of different identification codes in this fashion. This action is similar to the resetting of the access code number on hotel key cards. An application for this addition would be metering or sale of use of public outlets, such as on airplanes, in airports or hotels, motels and RV parks. Another example would be an establishment offering Internet access for an additional fee. The patron would be given a disposable transponder RFID tag to attach to his laptop network cable plug, or a chord with the tag in it, or some type of wireless communication device with the RFID tag operatively inserted. When the laptop cable is plugged into the receptacle or the wireless communication device plugged into the computer, current flow starts the timer for that RFID tags identification and access is enabled. After a determined time period the receptacle no longer responds to the individual RFID tags identification code and access is shut off. The receptacle would reset after a defined period of time so that the RFID tags identification code would once again be active if plugged in. Such a device would allow a hotel or trailer park or the like to prevent non-paying customers from gaining access to the receptacles equipped with RFID control units while having an inexpensive disposable method of enabling access to paying clients. This would allow the hotel or other establishment to sell utility or network access to paying users and simply issue them an RFID transponder that when placed sufficiently close to the receptacle to be come energized by the broadcast energy from the receptacle, would activate a switch in the receptacle to provide a communicating circuit to a plug. The user would then have power, or network access so long as the transponder is located close enough to the receptacle to be energized or for a determined time period of a timer is included in the circuit. The RFID transponder could also be encoded to broadcast an authorization code that would turn on the receptacle if the code matched one preprogrammed into the device. These codes could be updated remotely after each user or as needed.